


A Matching Set

by Firekitten



Series: Linked Spirits [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, This is a long summary for something so short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 09:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15793629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firekitten/pseuds/Firekitten
Summary: In Remnant, everyone has a spirit animal that acts as a representation of the person’s soul. And every spirit animal has a single characteristic that links to the animal of their soulmate’s. If one was lucky, the combination was obvious: like a fox-tailed mouse with a mouse-sized fox or a tiger-striped owl with an owl-taloned tiger. If one was unlucky, well, let’s just say you were probably better off finding that long-lost needle in the mountain-sized haystack than your own soulmate.It is to no one’s surprise that Qrow is in the unlucky category… but mostly because he’s as bright as a broken light. [RWBY Canonverse Soulmate AU]





	A Matching Set

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 7 Taiqrowweek - Theme is "Free Day"

 

Qrow smoothed out the non-existent creases in the red tablecloth once more as he shot a glance at the clock on the wall. Seeing not even a minute had passed, he groaned, letting his head drop onto the desk. If he had to wait much longer, he swore his stomach was going to knot itself its own quilt. It felt almost ridiculous to be this nervous; the last time he had been was back when he had learned how to fly for the first time – and _that_ had actual possibility for injury. So, by comparison, trying to woo his soulmate should be as easy as breathing.

Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.

“And I thought pop quiz days were the worst twenty minutes of my life.” He grumbled.

There was a fluttering of wings and then a little weight settled on his head. He sighed, lifting his head some. “I fail to see how that helps Jynx.” He felt a few taps as she walked forward and then the black bird’s face was suddenly in his peripheral as she bent over. She would have been just like any other normal crow, if not for the tiny brown deer antlers that poked out from the top of her skull and faintest red glow that seemed to emit from her, matching his own aura color.

She blinked and then squawked. Qrow reached up, scratching between her antlers. His spirit animal gave a happy twitter in response.

It was just starting to calm him down when the jangle of keys jump-started him back into high alert and he jerked upwards in the chair. Jynx bat her wings to stay balanced before hopping onto the leather back of the chair, perching there instead. He ran shaking hands through his hair as he settled back, trying to throw on his mask of absolute composure while the door swung open.

His boss and headmaster of Signal Academy, Iseria Goldstone, took two steps into her office then froze at the sight before her. At first, she appeared cautious, then confused, then finally skeptical as she realized who her company was. “Alright.” She started sternly, placing a hand on her hip, “What did you break?”

Qrow quickly held up his hands. “Nothing!” _That I know of._ He mentally added. “I was just- uh-” He waved at her desk in explanation. He had taken off her various knickknacks so he could place down the tablecloth. Atop it were only a few items: a burning candle, a bottle of white wine, and two half-full glasses. “Trying to surprise you?”

“O…kay.” She replied in slow measure, taking a few steps inside to allow her stag inside. Like his own spirit animal, it would have looked mostly normal, if not for slight blue glow and the black feathered wings it had folded onto it’s back; _crow_ wings. She closed the door once he was inside and took the seat across from him. She didn’t take a glass. “So then, what is this all about?”

Well, this wasn’t going the way he expected. “I uh,” Qrow cleared his throat, trying to throw on more charm as he lent forward, winking at her, “I mean, when it comes to who’s number one in my life, you’re definitely the one to take the _gold_.”

He instantly regret allowing his best friend to give him pointers when Iseria just stared, her eyes widening and jaw falling open. She was stuck in that moment of shock for several long seconds, before she finally whispered, “You think I’m your soulmate.”

His nerves took another loop of his intestines, squeezing hard enough that his voice came out a little tight, “Well, yeah. I mean. The wings…”

“Oh no.” She looked away, placing a hand over face as she shook her head. “No, no. I thought- Oh _Qrow_.” He swallowed, not liking that piteous tone of voice. His boss took a deep breath, seeming to find enough steadiness to say, “Qrow, my spirit animal is a Peryton. A winged deer.”

He stared. “…What?”

“I-” She heaved another sigh. “Spinel, come here.” Her spirit walked forward, hooves clomping loudly. She ran a hand under his chin, saying gently, “Open your mouth for me.” The stag did, its tongue lolling out just enough for Qrow to see it was forked.

Like a snake’s.

“Oh.” He kind of felt like he had just been slapped. “Well.” He picked up his glass. “This is embarrassing.”

At least Iseria seemed as uncomfortable as him as she pulled nervously at the long sleeves of her blouse. “I’m sorry. If anything, I’m actually… a little confused. I thought you and Tai were together.”

Qrow almost choked, coughing some as he set down the wine. “Wait, _what?_ Why the hell would you think that?” He looked over when he heard Jynx fly down onto the desk, looking towards him.

“Well,” The headmaster was quickly losing her composure, face flushing bright red, “What else was I supposed to think? What were all of us supposed to think?! You’re always together!”

“The whole school thinks we’re a thing?!”

“Of course they do! You two live together!”

“So?!”

“I mean!” She gestured wildly. “Those aren’t deer antlers! They don’t have points!”

“I-” He stared at his own spirit. “Oh my Gods.”

Iseria held a hand up to her mouth, realization all over her face at what she had just done. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh my _Gods!_ ”

“I’m sorry, I thought you knew!”

“ ** _I didn’t!_** ”

“I know that now!”

Qrow sucked in a breath, reigning in anything else he wanted to say when he remembered this was still his boss he was yelling at. He stared down at the desk without really seeing it, unable to compute what had just been thrown at him. Everything in him was reeling, as if the rug had been pulled out from underneath his feet, revealing a bottomless pit he just kept falling eternally into without hope of ever finding a landing.

Him… and **_Tai?_**

It just couldn’t be that easy!

…Could it?

The headmaster lent forward, asking gently, “You okay?”

“Yeah.” He lied as he reached out, picking up his glass and then the one he had poured for her. “But, I’m gonna drink both of these now.”

* * *

As Qrow walked through the front door, greeted by the smells of dinner cooking and the sounds of Zwei and Razer barking a crescendo from upstairs that blended into his nieces’ faint laughter and Flint’s small roars, he had to wonder how he never noticed how natural it felt to come home to this every day. That even if the idea of dating Iseria had come to mind, the idea of leaving this behind hadn’t ever been a thought.

As if the choice was as easy as breathing.

He crossed the living room, pausing in the doorway. Jynx alighted from his shoulder, landing on the counter beside where Taiyang stood at the stove, stirring something in a pot. The man reached out, running two fingers down along her back. Likewise, Qrow felt warmth run along his own spine, comforting and familiar.

“How did it go?” Tai asked, glancing back at him. There was a halo of golden light on his head that almost made him appear ethereal.

He crossed over, hopping up onto the counter. “Well, she’s not my soulmate. Apparently winged deers are a thing.”

“Wait, really?” When all he did was shrug, his friend offered him a sympathetic frown. “Shit man, I’m sorry. You alright?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” The halo on Tai’s head was moving, and then Solaris was lifting her head, the four-legged, snake-like dragon yawning to wakefulness. She peered over at Qrow, before springing over onto his shoulder, gripping onto his shirt with her claws as she nuzzled her face against his chin. He reached up, running his hand along the feathery black wings folded along her back as he continued, “Turns out, she even thought I already knew who my soulmate was.”

“What?” Tai stirred the pasta again before tapping the spoon on the rim of the pot. “Why would she think that?”

His voice was calm but his gaze intent as he said, “Probably something to do with the fact Solaris has crow wings.”

There was a clatter as Tai dropped the wooden spoon in his hand onto the floor. “Huh?!” He seemed to recover from the shock faster than Qrow himself had, whirling and pointing at Jynx, “But-!?”

“I looked it up, just to make sure. Deer, elk, caribou – didn’t matter what it was, none of the antlers had rounded ends.”

Slowly, Tai lowered his hand, looking towards him as Jynx mirrored Solaris by perching onto his shoulder. “So, you think we’re really…?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Oh.”

As he looked between him and their spirit animals, Qrow wondered if Tai was thinking about Raven. Odin hadn’t had any distinguishing features that implied anything serpentine in nature. But when the relationship hit it off, they had all assumed the raven had dragon claws or maybe, he had half-joked, cold blood. Then, just like that, it crashed and he had later concluded, but never told Tai, that his twin likely never had a soulmate to begin with.

Or maybe he was thinking of Summer who, despite her leopard-patterned otter, broke all the conventions of the world and got together with Tai anyways. Perhaps it was because they tried harder despite not being “destined” for one another or maybe the whole idea of soulmates was just inane altogether, but they had been _happy_. Regretless. And if anyone dared tell Qrow those two hadn’t loved each other with every inch of themselves, he’d shove Harbinger down their throat.

Or, as Tai pinned him with his gaze once more, maybe he was just thinking of them. Twelve years they’d known each other. They had become the best of friends and the most loyal of teammates. Sure, there were times when their differences clashed or they’d argue, yet they never let those things divide them. In the end, they were always back-to-back in countless fights and side by side in every step of their lives. He’d seen Tai’s every success and every failure, every joy and every grief and he’d stood by him through every moment, just as Tai did in turn for him. Qrow had never really considered just how much he wanted it to continue that way; not necessarily because he _couldn’t_ live without Tai, but because he didn’t _want_ to.

“Sooo…” Qrow snapped his fingers, winking as he pointed towards the other, “ _Xiao_ long have you been waiting for me?”

Tai did a startling mimic of Iseria, eyes widening and jaw dropping open.

And then he was doubling over with laughter. “Oh Gods, I can’t believe you – wait, wait! I got a better one!” He couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he winked right back, “Does this mean I bran- _win_ you?”

“I instantly regret everything.” Qrow deadpanned but the façade didn’t last as the blond continued to chuckle, allowing a smile to break upon his own lips. Maybe it had taken them over a decade to stop being too stupid to see the obvious, but in a way, he couldn’t help but be glad for it. Because he already believed in Tai and him, so to make being soulmates work?

That was easy.


End file.
